Qin Yan was staying at his uncle's house near the school. As soon as he arrived at the door, he heard the sound of the TV echoing in the living room:

"According to local radio reports, traces of unidentified strange beasts have been found near the coastal areas in the east of the city. Citizens are advised to be cautious when going out and to take precautions."

"Ah, what's happening in this world? Even monsters are appearing now, are we not allowed to live?" A voice of a middle-aged woman full of sorrow came from the living room, and Qin Yan recognized it as his aunt.

"What else can we do? Just take it day by day. I heard that the family upstairs next door all got some strange illness, their days are numbered. At this rate, who knows when it will be our turn..." a hoarse voice of a middle-aged man, Qin Yan's uncle, said. Qin Yan took out the key and was about to open the door, when he heard his aunt's voice again:

"Your sick nephew has been living in our house. Do you think his illness will spread to us?"

After a brief silence, the uncle said, "The doctor said it should be fine, but his illness is very rare, so it cannot be confirmed."

Hearing this, the aunt was a bit unhappy, "But what if the disease is contagious, wouldn't that harm us?"

"Don't think too much, he has had this disease since he was a child, very pitiful. He will be fine after he finishes these two years of school." The uncle said in a deep voice, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag to relieve the depression in his heart.

"So we are not pitiful?" The aunt insisted, her tone getting louder, "After so many years of marriage, we don't even have children, and now we have to be burdened by outsiders. I really don't understand why your nephew, with his condition, is still studying. Even if he finishes school, he will be useless."

"Have you finished speaking!?" The uncle's mood also became irritable, and he raised his voice.

"Why are you getting angry?! Am I not stating the facts?" The aunt also shouted, and the two began to argue.

Qin Yan stood outside the door as if petrified, afraid to enter. It wasn't until the argument inside had subsided that he opened the door and entered the room, immediately noticing the haggard look on his uncle's face.

"You're back, anything happen today? Did you fall or something?" A forced smile appeared on the uncle's pale face, his eyes filled with exhaustion. Although he was only in his forties, he gave off the feeling that he could collapse in bed at any moment.

"Nothing happened." Qin Yan didn't dare to look at his uncle's face, muttered, looked around, his aunt was not in the living room, she must have intentionally hidden away. Qin Yan didn't want to see her, after exchanging a few words with his uncle, he went into his room and closed the door.

Yes, I am a useless person, I can't survive without relying on others.

Qin Yan leaned against the door, his mind filled with thoughts of the disdainful and hateful looks from others.

But he knew himself that his mind was perfectly normal, even smarter than the average person. It was just his body that had some issues, often not obeying him, leading to his strange behavior and discrimination from others.

To change this situation, he exercised every day - brisk walking, jogging, pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and even learned martial arts. Although these exercises were risky for him, as a small mistake could lead to injury, Qin Yan persisted, not wanting to become a useless person.

Standing in front of a full-length mirror, Qin Yan stared at his reflection, lost in thought.

At 5'8" tall, he was also quite handsome. Perhaps he would have been welcomed by those around him if it weren't for the accident ten years ago.

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Maybe this was his fate, and in this era, the fate of others wasn't much better than his own - decreasing water resources, radiation that was hard to avoid, various unfamiliar diseases. Earth was no longer as suitable for human survival as it was forty years ago. Many people had lost their lives due to their inability to adapt to the current environment. Perhaps humanity was heading towards extinction. Compared to those who had died, he was already very lucky to be alive.

Thinking this way, Qin Yan felt slightly relieved. Although he was only seventeen years old, his thoughts were already quite mature. People who grew up in such an environment matured early, or else they wouldn't survive in this cruel world.

After dinner, Qin Yan lay down early in bed, taking out the black jade given to him by a wanderer, thinking about what the wanderer had said during the day.

If what he said was true, how wonderful it would be. As he thought about it, drowsiness crept into Qin Yan's mind, and he fell into a deep sleep.

A ghostly black figure approached the sleeping Qin Yan and picked up a shiny black jade, suddenly stabbing it into his lower back.

"Ah!" Qin Yan broke out in a cold sweat, sitting up in bed, looking around in a panic.

The room was empty, there was nothing there.

"It was just a nightmare." Qin Yan breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, but then he felt that something was wrong. For some reason, his whole body felt like it was burning with intense heat.

"Why is this black jade emitting light?" Qin Yan quickly realized the problem. The black jade on his bed was emitting a strange reddish light, a special powerful energy that made him feel intensely hot all over. In that moment, Qin Yan felt like he was back on the day of the solar storm that hit the Earth ten years ago.

He felt like his nerves were being torn apart, the pain unbearable. He wanted to scream for help, but his throat seemed to be mute, unable to make a sound. He wanted to run out of the room, but his body wouldn't obey.

Am I going to die again? Well, maybe I should have died ten years ago. Qin Yan's heart grew cold, eventually giving up struggling and collapsing on the bed.

The next morning, Qin Yan was startled awake by a heavy knocking on the door.

"Qin Yan, why aren't you up yet? Did something happen?!" his uncle's voice came from outside the bedroom.

"I'm up," Qin Yan mumbled, waking up, remembering what had happened the night before. Suddenly wide awake, he sat up in bed, opened his outer garments to check his body, but everything was normal. There was no sign of damage to his skin, and the black jade was sitting on the bed peacefully, not emitting the strange red light from the night before.

"Could it be that I'm having hallucinations again?" Because similar things had happened before, Qin Yan didn't think much of it. He quickly put on his clothes, finished breakfast, and headed to school.

For some reason, Qin Yan felt incredibly light, his previously rigid body becoming unusually flexible.

"How strange, why does my body feel different from usual?" It had been almost ten years since Qin Yan had felt this refreshed. He felt exceptionally obedient today, completely under his control. He also noticed that his body seemed to automatically absorb the surrounding air, turning it into a warm flow that spread throughout his body, filling him with vitality.

Qin Yan joyfully started running, with the scenery around him swiftly passing by. With a light push back with his foot, he could move several meters forward, something unimaginable before.

Perhaps he was too happy, Qin Yan forgot to look ahead and collided with a person who suddenly appeared in front of him. With a loud thud, Qin Yan felt himself bump into a soft body, and both of them fell to the ground.

"You, don't watch where you're going?" A melodious voice, like silver bells, sounded in front of Qin Yan. He quickly got up from the ground and saw a long-haired girl sitting half-lying on the ground.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought just now and didn't pay attention to the front." Qin Yan reached out to the girl to help her up.

But she ignored him, got up by herself, dusting off her clothes, and complained with a frown, "You look pretty good, but you're like a fool running around aimlessly on the road!"

Qin Yan awkwardly smiled, carefully looking at the girl in front of him. She had fair skin, well-defined features, a good figure, shiny black shoulder-length hair, standing at around 5'6". She had two long ponytails tied with black cloth on both sides of her head, wearing a red jacket on top and a black knee-length skirt below. For a moment, Qin Yan was stunned because this girl was even more beautiful than the school's beauty queen.

"What are you looking at?!" Probably noticing that Qin Yan had been staring at her, the girl suddenly snapped, her bright eyes glaring at him with a hint of reproach on her beautiful face.

"N-nothing." Qin Yan realized he had been staring a bit too much and quickly turned his head, stammering in response.

"You're really a fool. Forget it, pay more attention next time. Even though there aren't many people on the road, you shouldn't run around aimlessly."

Qin Yan agreed with a nod and dared not look at the girl again. He lowered his head and walked towards the direction of the school. The girl also wanted to leave, but then she seemed to notice something, her expression changed. She bent down, picked up a palm-sized black jade from where Qin Yan had fallen moments ago.

"Huh, this black stone has radiation energy. Could it have fallen from that fool just now?" The girl held the black jade in her hand, looking in the direction Qin Yan had left, her face showing a pensive expression.